Of Lagos, startups, cigarettes and prostitutes: a Nigerian writer unveils his literary inspiration

Leye Adenle discusses how an encounter with a sex worker led to him giving her the central role in his first feature-length novel

Land Degradation and Its Impacts on Ecosystem Services in the Nigerian Guinea Savannah: Implications for Sustainable Land Management

Land degradation is a major environmental concern. Globally, land degradation directly impacts about 1.5 to 3.2 billion people by affecting water and nutrient cycles, reducing food and biomass production, and adversely affecting livelihoods that are dependent on land and natural resources. Land degradation, its drivers, and its impacts manifest differently depending on the social and ecological contexts. Thus, attention to the context in analysing land degradation and its proximate and underlying causes will yield insights to foster sustainable land management (SLM). Although land degradation has been implicated in various environmental and development challenges in Africa, knowledge about land degradation in some regions remains inadequate to support the identification of SLM practices. The Guinea savannah zone in Nigeria is one such region, facing widespread and severe land degradation. The region has lost much of its native vegetation due to the combined effects of land degradation, deforestation, and land use changes. Land degradation has been associated with farmer–herder conflicts, communal clashes, out-migration, and food insecurity. These impacts are likely to worsen as climate change progresses and in the absence of SLM. Thus, the overarching aim of this study is to improve understanding of the spatial distribution of land degradation in the Nigerian Guinea Savannah (NGS) and its drivers and thus derive insights into the sustainable management of its land resources. The insights will also help inform pathways to achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN), a global environmental goal. Its objectives are to (1) assess human-induced biomass loss as a proxy for land degradation in the NGS; (2) identify characteristic patterns of social and ecological factors associated with land degradation in the region and analyse their implications for land governance and SLM; (3) examine land users’ perceptions of land degradation and its implications for SLM, using Niger state as a case study; and (4) examine the potentials for operationalizing LDN in Nigeria. These four objectives were addressed in four studies. The research questions were investigated with a mixed-methods approach combining satellite remote sensing data and analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) with field surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and a review of environmental policies in Nigeria. Results from assessing human-induced biomass loss, as a proxy for land degradation (Study 1) showed a declining trend in annual mean normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and annual NDVI anomalies observed in the NGS between 2003 and 2018. The indices were from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Overall, the study revealed that 38% (251K km2) of the NGS experienced degradation, 14% (91K km2) experienced improvement, and the remaining 48% (320K km2) was stable. Land degradation is mostly evident in states bordering the northwest to the central and northeast of the NGS, such as Niger state. These results show that land degradation affects a substantial part of the study area. Thus, identifying characteristic patterns of social and ecological factors associated with land degradation in the region and analysing their implications for land governance and SLM (Study 2) provided further insights. The archetype analysis identified nine archetypes dominated by (1) protected areas; (2) very high-density population; (3) moderately high information and knowledge access; (4) low literacy levels and moderately high poverty levels; (5) rural remoteness; (6) remoteness from a major road; (7) very high livestock density; (8) moderate poverty level and nearly level terrain; and (9) very rugged terrain remote from a major road. Among these archetypes, four archetypes characterized by very high-density population, moderately high information and knowledge access, and moderately high poverty level, as well as remoteness from a major town, were associated with 61.3% large-area degradation. The other five archetypes, covering 38.7% of the area, were associated with small-area degradation. Although the MODIS satellite analysis (Study 1) and the archetype analysis of spatial data on land degradation drivers, hint at the different types of land use and management including the ecological aspects of land degradation (Study 2), Study 3 examines the perspectives of land users on land degradation. A questionnaire survey was used to capture local land users’ perceptions of land degradation. The assessment of local land users’ perceptions of land degradation in predominantly rural remote farming communities was necessary to provide insights to further guide land governance and management. Thus, focused on the rural remote archetypes and its analysed communities far from major towns but with a moderately low prevalence of land degradation drivers such as population density, protected areas, and flat terrain. Using a case study on Niger state, an administrative unit in the NGS and a Principal Component Analysis, Study 3 identified key components in land users’ perceptions of land degradation characteristics and drivers and SLM. They include (1) four perception dimensions of land degradation characteristics: (2) two perception dimensions of land degradation drivers, and (3) six perception dimensions of sustainable land management. The four major dimensions of perceptions of land degradation in the study context include vegetation-condition-dominated characteristics, soil-condition-dominated characteristics, and vegetation with Sudano-Sahelian characteristics as well as land use land cover (LULC) with the prevalence of drier conditions. The two categories of land degradation drivers are human-activity-dominated drivers at a smaller scale and nature-dominated drivers at a larger scale. The two categories of land degradation drivers are human activities dominated drivers at a smaller scale and larger-scale drivers (nature-driven). The dimensions of SLM identified include institutional actors’ effect; natural resources management and environmentally friendly agricultural practices as well as tree-based initiatives; conservation initiatives and policy initiatives. The study showed that land degradation in Niger State is due to land use pressure from within the state and from migrant resource users with limited cultural attachments to local land management approaches. A spatial differentiation in dependence on natural resources showed that of the three geopolitical zones in Niger State, the zone with more diversified livelihood alternatives from agriculture, B, has less degradation than the other two zones, A and C. The archetypes approach (Study 2) identified policies and practices addressing increasing population in combination with other socio-economic factors such as poverty reduction as important. Other strategies include creating awareness about land degradation, the promotion of sustainable practices, and various forms of land restoration, such as tree planting, as ways of progressing towards LDN. In addition, Study 3 on key dimensions based on land users’ perceptions identified environmentally friendly agriculture initiatives such as farmer-managed natural regeneration and a bottom-up approach involving traditional village heads to tackle land degradation. Ranking of SLM using the relative importance index (RII) (Study 3) showed that land users perceive institutional actors (70.0%), technological practices (67.6%), conservation practices (66.8%), and policy initiatives (66.5%) as effective SLM. Connecting the insights from the three previous studies on land degradation in the NGS, Study 4 examined ways to operationalize LDN in Nigeria. Study 4 reviewed literature, assessed spatial datasets, and analysed national policies to examine the need to contextualize LDN according to the main agro-ecological zones in Nigeria, which include the NGS. The study also identified two promising entry points for operationalizing LDN; these are incentivizing and promoting SLM practices among local resource users and mainstreaming SLM initiatives in sectors such as agriculture and the environment. To support SLM measures, reform of national land use policy is needed to address the current limitations of land tenure in Nigeria. In conclusion, this study has identified large areas of the NGS affected by land degradation and identified the typologies of degradation extent, thus making it easier to target SLM measures. Because land degradation depends on land users’ perceptions and contexts, knowledge gained can inform approaches to motivate the land users themselves to address land degradation. Insights gained from the focus on the NGS have informed contributions to examine how changes in land use affect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Río de la Plata grasslands (RPG), one of the most modified savannah biomes in the world, managed by Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Results showed that a strict regulation of LULC change in the RGP is required to address land degradation. Studies in both contexts thus show the importance of appropriate policies to support SLM. These studies also highlight further research questions, such as what the key socio and economic determinants shaping land users’ perceptions of land degradation are and how land users prioritize ecosystem services, as additional pathways to align SLM practices to the social and ecological context

Women in Nigerian News Media: Status, Experiences and Structures.

This study investigates women journalists’ experience of journalism practice in Nigeria and reviews the structures that moderate those experiences. The thesis employs an ethnographic approach in answering the research questions. An observation of women journalists’ interaction with their colleagues in the newsrooms of two news media organisations were conducted for a total of four weeks, 46 media workers (two HR managers, one production staff, 11 male journalists and 32 female journalists) were interviewed and the staff regulation and policy handbooks of five news organisations were reviewed to understand Nigerian news media organisations’ equality and gender policies. A study grounded in African feminist theory and a phenomenological approach to research; this thesis privileges women journalists’ experiences and is focused primarily on documenting how they experience the news industry in Nigeria. Analysing findings using thematic analysis, the study reveals that women journalists experience various inequalities in the Nigerian news industry. Key findings are that even though more women are increasingly covering the hard beats, women journalists are nonetheless clustered in the soft beats. Contrary to previous evidence, pay equality is in theory but not practice as negotiation, nepotism and gender norms sometimes cause salary differentials for men and women journalists. The non-payment of salaries drives women out of media organisations. Sexual harassment and sexism are rife in Nigerian news companies and many organisations do not have policies and frameworks to address them, the few who handle sexual harassment complaints do so unofficially and off the records. Marriage and motherhood are the dominant factors creating glass ceilings for women journalists working in the Nigerian news media. This study contributes to knowledge by providing original insight into how women experience journalism practice in Nigeria, thus filling a huge gap as the bulk of feminist media research on the gendered nature of media production processes and how women experience the news industry have been on the global North.Nigerian Tertiary Education Trust Fund [TETFUND] Academic Staff Training and Development [AST&D

A Time-Driven Activity Cost Approach for the Reduction of Cost of IT Services: A Case Study in the Internet Service Industry

This study aims to show that application of Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TDABC) to the management of cost of Information Technology (IT) Services Operations and how it can be used to achieve significant cost reduction. To achieve this; a case study organization was used and the scope of activities was limited to Technical Services department Operations units. Interviews were conducted with the unit managers and their operations staff. From the interview, a list of services were developed and linked to activities and time to execute each was provided by the operational staff. Time equations were developed from the activity groups that supported each type of service. A TDABC model was then simulated with Microsoft Excel; which incorporated the activities, the time to deliver each and the capacity cost rate to derive the cost of delivering a service. The result of the test showed that two variations (out of six) of that incident type cost more than 75% of the overall cost of that incident type, though they constitute about 30% of the incident type. This study showed that TDABC is an effective tool in identification of costly processes which may then allow IT operations managers and supervisors to take critical decisions about cost control, charge-back or costing of services

Agribusiness innovation: A pathway to sustainable economic growth in Africa

The paper considers the factors that drive a strong and competitive agri-business sector with particular attention to investment in research and development (R&D) for technological innovation as well as the broader drivers and risk factors of influence. It develops a case study and in particular contrasts the very successful value chain in Thailand with the weak one in Nigeria in order to highlight the implications for Nigerian government policy if it wishes to exploit the potential for a strong cassava agri-business sector

Images of Body Shaming in Ezeigbo’s Magic Breast Bags

Body shaming is an old sociological phenomenon that leaves a mark in the life of its recipients and could drive them to take drastic actions in other to fit into societal perceived and accepted looks. Several literary works expose the open criticism and mockery of a person’s physical appearances which could demoralize or impede the mindset of the individuals and yet nothing is done about it in most situations. The act of body shaming is an act of bullying which the effect oftentimes is trivialized in certain situations and communities. Body shaming might not even be regarded as an act of bullying or wrong-doing to a person’s mental state and general perceptions of their being. The objective of this study is to expose the resultant effect of body shaming, proffer ways in which it can be curbs and examine the role of literature as a corrective medium. From a sociological stand point, using the symbolic interactionist perspective theory, this study draws its strength from Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo Magic Breast Bag a collection of short stories with a focus “Magic Breast Bags”, “The Runaway Prophet” and “I Go Drive Myself”. The selected choices aim at exploring the causes of body shaming, the psychological effect of body shaming and the perceived gender labeling of body shaming

Impact of instructional media on academic performance of students in basic science and technology in education district I of Lagos State

The use of instructional media is of vital importance in the teaching and learning of the basic sciences in primary and secondary schools as it drives home the lesson points of the subject being taught and reduces stress for both the teachers and students. The imaginative use of well-planned visual aids during classroom lessons does not boost academic performances of students learning physics, chemistry, biology, technology and mathematics. This research investigates the impact of instructional media or design usage on the learning outcomes of students in the basic sciences in Lagos, Nigeria. The research design is Quasi-Experimental. The sample population consists of an experimental and a control group. The experimental group is taught with instructional media for a fortnight. The findings show that the use of instructional media positively impacted the learning outcomes of the students, thus highlighting then vital essence of using instructional media during lessons for enhancement of students’ learning.Keywords: Instructional Media, Academic Performance, Students, Basic Science, Basic Technology, Education Distric

ENHANCING MASTERY OF PRACTICAL SKILLS IN STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION THROUGH ACTIVITY BASED

The study seeks to understand the issues and challenges related to the implementations of activity-based instructions on vocational and technical education student in Nigeria. A survey was carried out involving vocational and technical education teachers in all six government owned technical colleges in Lagos State of Nigeria. A total of 150 teachers were selected randomly as respondents for the study. A four point scale items were designed to elicit information from the respondents. The findings of the study indicated that the techniques and the strategies adopted by the teachers of vocational education include: demonstration, field trips, projects, experiments and assignments. Various methods to evaluate students outcome include: process-product through systematic observation. It was evident from the study that constantly focusing on activity to make learning fun can actually hamper those students who make good progress without it. Based on the findings the researcher therefore concluded that good vocational and technical education teachers require the right attitude, have years of professional and practical skills and entrepreneurial experience at the workshop floor of industry and good background knowledge of engineering design

Key dimensions of land users’ perceptions of land degradation and sustainable land management in Niger State, Nigeria

Declining land productivity remains a challenge for agriculture-based livelihoods and for achieving food security. Yet identifying how land users perceive land degradation and their capacity to manage land in an environmentally sustainable manner can influence the measures initiated to address it. Using the case of Niger State, Nigeria, this study examines land users’ perceptions of land degradation and land management measures to address it in the Nigerian Guinea Savannah. We used the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index as a proxy for degradation status, selecting 30 communities based on the extent of degraded areas. We adapted the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies, Sustainable Land Management questionnaires to capture perceptions and administered 225 questionnaires to land users. Through key informant interviews, we collected narrative insights and data on perspectives and motivations of land users to understand land degradation situations and to interpret the questionnaire surveys. We analysed data through descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis and qualitative analysis. Our analysis identified four perceptions dimensions of land degradation characteristics, two perceptions dimensions of land degradation drivers, and six perceptions dimensions of sustainable land management. The results also confirmed that degradation in Niger State is both due to widespread unsustainable human activities within Niger state and those by migrant farmers and pastoralism from adjoining Sudan Sahelian states that push people further south, a leakage of ongoing land degradation and conflicts in other areas. To deal with local land degradation in Niger State, improved land tenure, alternative livelihood strategies, poverty eradication and awareness, nature-based sustainable land management practices such as tree-based initiatives, environmentally friendly agriculture such as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration supported by the necessary political will and institutions are critical